Testifying before the Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods in Parliament on Friday (March 16),  NUS Assistant Professor Elmie Nekmat (Department of Communications and New Media) warns that the ongoing review of whether Singapore’s existing legal infrastructure is sufficient to curb the circulation of online fake news must not fail to take into account the role played by language. He explains that language is integral to a one’s cultural consciousness, and a community’s heightened relatability to a particular language or dialect can contribute to the ease with which online falsehoods are disseminated.

In his written submission, Asst Prof Nekmat maintains that because “deliberate online falsehoods can erode social trust and rupture society along racial lines in irreversible ways, it is necessary to implement the best safeguards possible to secure our social fabric.” In addition to calling for more relevant laws, education initiatives and research into the impact of fake news, he also points to the need for a new legal requirement for content distributors to “proactively stop fake news and false information from spreading on their platforms.”

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